2021-02-02: News Headlines

Staff (2021-02-02). Alexei Navalny Faces "Kafkaesque" Charges in Russia for Breaking Parole While in Poison-Induced Coma. democracynow.org Russian authorities have arrested thousands of people during anti-government protests in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been held in jail since returning to Russia on January 17 after recovering in Germany from an attempt on his life in August using the nerve agent Novichok. Navalny has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the poisoning that nearly killed him. While Navalny has emerged as Russia's leading opposition figure and anti-corruption campaigner, his political roots have links to right-wing nationalist and anti-immigrant causes. Joshua Yaffa, Moscow corresp…

Staff (2021-02-02). Russia's Sputnik V Is Found to Be 91.6% Effective, Providing Boost for Global Vaccination Effort. democracynow.org Russia has been one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, recording about 73,000 deaths and over 3.8 million infections over the past year. Meanwhile, there is widespread skepticism over the domestically developed Sputnik V vaccine, with many Russians reluctant to get the shot. Now a peer-reviewed study published in the respected Lancet medical journal has confirmed the vaccine's 91.6% efficacy, as developers of the shot have long maintained. "That's good news for the developers of the vaccine in Russia. That's good news for Russia writ large, which certainly has plenty of geopolitical ambitions surroundi…

Peter Koenig (2021-02-02). The Coronavirus Vaccine: The Real Danger is "Agenda ID2020" globalresearch.ca WHO has most likely received orders from "above", from those people who also manage Trump and the "leaders" (sic) of the EU, European Union. The final decision to go ahead NOW with COVID-19 pandemic, was taken in January 2020 at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos – behind very much closed doors.

The Conversation (2021-02-02). Israel faces legal — and practical — obligations for including Palestinians in vaccine success. juancole.com By Yara M. Asi | — As nations scramble to vaccinate populations against COVID-19, one country has been ahead of the rest: Israel. By late January, Israel had vaccinated more than 30% of its population — more than double or triple the rate of other high-income states like the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany. …

Johanna Kichton (2021-02-02). People's Action Announces New Deep Canvass Campaign for COVID Relief. peoplesaction.org After Deep Canvass Successes in Presidential Election and Georgia Runoffs, People's Action to Engage People Around Recurring Cash Payments in West Virginia, Arizona, and Missouri Contact: Johanna Kichton, 240.206.1145, press@peoplesaction.org WASHINGTON, D.C.—People's Action today announced a new deep canvassing campaign to help secure recurring cash payments in the next COVID relief bill. People's Action will …

WSWS (2021-02-02). Defend Boƒüaziàßi University students against police state repression! wsws.org The Socialist Equality Group in Turkey condemns the police attacks and detention of more than 150 students yesterday at Boƒüaziàßi University and in ƒ∞zmir.

Juan Cole (2021-02-02). Biden's Green Energy Plans are just Market Wisdom: Norway's Investment Fund just Dumped $6 Bn. in Oil Stocks. juancole.com Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — Some have questioned how realistic Biden's plans are to move the US rapidly off fossil fuels. In fact, it is the fossil fuels that are unrealistic. Burning petroleum and coal are bad for everyone's health and destined to make earth swelteringly hot, with lots of climate catastrophes and extreme weather. …

AFP (2021-02-02). Germany Rejects French Call to Scrap Russia Gas Pipeline Over Navalny. anti-empire.com France on Monday urged Germany to scrap a major gas pipeline project with Russia in protest over the detention in Moscow of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but the plea fell on deaf ears in Berlin. | "We have always said we have the greatest doubts on this project in this context," European Affairs minister Clement Beaune told France Inter radio. | Asked specifically if France wanted Berlin to drop the project, Beaune said: "Indeed, we have already said this." | Nord Stream 2 is a 10 billion euro ($11 billion) pipeline that will run beneath the Baltic Sea and is set to double Russian natural-gas shipments to Ge…

Armin Rosen (2021-02-02). Regime Journalists Mobilize to Ban Competition. And Your Free Speech. anti-empire.com "Like many of the other proponents of controlled speech mentioned here, Bazelon's writing has a detectable winking quality to it: Don't worry, dear reader, YOU'RE not the one who's going to be censored. THEY are. In fact, the censorship, so-called, won't even be that bad. You'll hardly notice it." | "One thing that people might not immediately recognize when they hear scary-sounding words like "censorship" is that the act of controlling other people's speech can be gratifying, a psychic net-positive for those who dream of a purified information space."The new enemy is no longer "disinformation" but "misinformatio…

Dianne Mathiowetz (2021-02-02). Capitalist greed kills six poultry workers in Georgia. workers.org Atlanta, Ga. Jan. 31 — Prior to Jan. 28, most of us were likely unaware of the death-rendering results of exposure to liquid nitrogen, including the low-wage workers at Foundation Food Group in Gainesville, Ga. It is used in food processing plants across the country to rapidly freeze products for . . . |

NDR (2021-02-02). Facility for 'Quarantine Objectors' in Germany Ready for Inmates. anti-empire.com Machine translated from German | Today is the official start, but so far the rooms have not been used. Until Friday afternoon it was not foreseeable that the districts would already make use of the accommodation, said a spokeswoman for the district assembly. In the building on the grounds of the Moltsfelde juvenile detention center in Neumàºnster, there is space for up to six quarantine objectors. The cells are each twelve square meters in size and the facility is closed from the outside. The operator is the Segeberg district and makes them available to the other districts and independent cities. | Housi…

David Rovics (2021-02-02). November 17th, 1973 and the Legacy of State Terror. counterpunch.org In a prison hospital in Athens, Greece, a man named Dimitris Koufontinas lies unconscious most of the time. Almost a month into a water-only hunger strike, one of his tremendously weakened organs could fail, and he could die at any moment. As always, there's a lot happening in the world. Ongoing wars between countries, civil

Eds. (2021-02-02). 'Who ended the Holocaust?'. mronline.org The 2014 coup is now called with masterly irony in Wikipedia "The Revolution of Dignity." That is a Big Lie even Josef Goebbels would have envied.

H.I. Sutton (2021-02-02). China's New Aircraft Carrier Killer Is World's Largest Air-Launched Missile. anti-empire.com Navies are racing to develop hypersonic missiles which may change the pace of naval warfare. Russia will deploy the Zircon hypersonic missile aboard warships and submarines. The US Navy has started down the path of the common hypersonic glide body (c-HGB) for its destroyers. Meanwhile China's latest hypersonic weapon is something completely different; it is air launched. | The massive new missile, labelled CH-AS-X-13, is probably the largest air-launched missile in the world. | The missile was first reported by Ankit Panda, the Stanton Senior Fellow at the Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for Internatio…

Ragip Soylu (2021-02-02). Turkey held talks with UK to purchase aircraft carrier. middleeasteye.net Turkey held talks with UK to purchase aircraft carrier | Britain last year offered to help Ankara locally produce vessel after declining to sell one | Tue, 02/02/2021 – 13: 55 | Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan launches a locally produced Turkish warship into the water in Istanbul, Turkey on 23 January 2021 (Turkish Presidency) | The Turkish government held consultations with the UK to procure a new or s…

MEE and agencies (2021-02-02). Bogazici protests: Police arrest more than a hundred protesters at top Turkish university. middleeasteye.net Bogazici protests: Police arrest more than a hundred protesters at top Turkish university | Students have been protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu as rector of Bogazici University by President Erdogan for nearly a month | Tue, 02/02/2021 – 07: 32 | Bulu is the first rector of a university to be appointed from outside a university since a military coup in 1950 (Reuters) | Turkish polic…

RT (2021-02-02). Democrats seek to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of House committee assignments to negate 'future harm' from 'QAnon Congresswoman'. rt.com Democrats are demanding the GOP purge Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from two House committees over her supposed "inflammatory and false statements," apparently with support of some Republicans. | Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida), Ted Deutch (D-Florida) and Jahana Hayes (D-Connecticut) submitted a resolution on Monday demanding Greene be removed from the House Education & Labor Committee and the House Budget Committee. | "Reducing the future harm that she can cause in Congress, and denying her a seat at committee tables where fact-based policies will be drafted, is both a suit…

RT (2021-02-02). Marjorie Greene Taylor hits back after Mitch McConnell dubs her 'GOP cancer,' says 'weak Republicans' will doom party & country. rt.com Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has responded to a scathing attack by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — who dubbed her a "cancer" for the GOP — insisting that "weak" Republicans would be the country's downfall. | "The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully," the freshman GOP congresswoman wrote in a tweet on Monday night. | This is why we are losing our country. | The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully. | This is why we are losing our country.— Marjorie Taylor Greene &#…

Mehr News Agency (2021-02-02). European countries' defense spending grows 5.6% in 2020. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Feb. 02 (MNA) — The Collective Security Treaty Organization's Secretary-General said that Europe's defense spending last year grew by 5.6%, which is thrice the world average.

Mehr News Agency (2021-02-02). VIDEO: Intl. space station battery upgrade completed. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Feb. 02 (MNA) — NASA astronauts completed the second in a pair of spacewalks on Tuesday, installing a European science platform and finishing up a long series of battery replacements outside the International Space Station.

Mehr News Agency (2021-02-02). EU criticizes Kosovo for re-opening embassy in occupied lands. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Feb. 02 (MNA) — The EU foreign service has urged Kosovo to reconsider opening an embassy in occupied lands.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-02-02). Protests set to intensify across Poland as abortion ban comes into effect. zcomm.org The National Women's Strike in Poland called for countrywide protests after the controversial judgment by the Polish constitutional court banning abortions in case of fetal defects came into effect on Wednesday…

yenisafak (2021-02-02). Russia's Sputnik V vaccine 'safe, effective': Study. yenisafak.com The Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine developed in Russia has shown "a consistent strong protective effect across all participant age groups," according to a study published in medical journal The Lancet.Interim results from a Phase 3 trial that included some 20,000 people showed 91.6% efficacy of a two-dose regimen of the adenovirus-based vaccine."No serious adverse events were deemed to be associated with vaccination, and most reported adverse events were mild, including flu-like symptoms, pain at the injection site, and weakness or low energy," the article said.Serious complications, such as requiring hospital ad…

RT (2021-02-02). Explosive Video Exposes MI6 Links to Alexei Navalny. dissidentvoice.org RT's Murad Gazdiev reports on new evidence of links between MI6 and Russian opposition figure and activist Alexei Navalny. Then author and professor of international human rights Dan Kovalik joins Rick Sanchez to discuss the role of the US and UK in fomenting political discord in Russia and other countries.

yenisafak (2021-02-02). Two PKK terrorists surrender to security forces in Turkey. yenisafak.com Two more PKK terrorists have surrendered to Turkish security forces as a result of persuasion efforts, the country's Interior Ministry announced Tuesday.After fleeing from the separatist PKK terror organization, the terrorists surrendered thanks to the persuasion efforts by the police and gendarmerie, the ministry said in a written statement.The terrorists joined the PKK between years 2010 and 2014, and had been active in Iraq, it added.With the latest additions, the number of terrorists who have laid down their arms through persuasion efforts this year has reached 16, it said.In its more than 30-year terror cam…

yenisafak (2021-02-02). 'Sovereign equality required to resolve Cyprus issue'. yenisafak.com The Turkish foreign minister on Tuesday stressed the importance of negotiations based on sovereign equality to resolve the Cyprus issue.Negotiation on sovereign equality is required in resolving the Cyprus issue, "if there is sovereign equality, then there can be two states," Mevlut Cavusoglu told a joint news conference with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar in Lefkosa.Cavusoglu said that half of the Eastern Mediterranean issue would be solved if they can find a solution for sharing revenues of natural resources in Cyprus.On Monday, Cavusoglu met with Turkish Cypriot authorities as…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-02-02). Kosovo establishes diplomatic relations with Israel, will open embassy in Jerusalem. peoplesdispatch.org Kosovo is the latest in a line of countries which have decided to normalize their relations with Israel, while being only the third to open its embassy in Jerusalem…

Daniel Warner (2021-02-02). Russia Confronts International Law: Nyet, Nyet. counterpunch.org "What good is international law when countries do whatever they want?" I aggressively asked my international law professor years ago. "Well," he replied with a certain pride, "the United States president usually confers with the State Department legal adviser before he sends troops somewhere." "But does that change anything?" I insisted. "No," he replied, "but

Peoples Dispatch (2021-02-02). Protests take place in Spain against persecution of rapper Pablo Hasel. peoplesdispatch.org The Spanish national court served a notice to Hasel last week asking him to surrender within ten days to face imprisonment. Hasel was convicted on charges of "glorifying terrorism, insulting the crown and state institutions", and faces a two-year prison term…

RT News (2021-02-02). China Building Digital Silk Road Stretching from Asia Through Africa to Europe. asia-pacificresearch.com

oneworld.press (2021-02-02). Kabul Must Identify The Perpetrators Of The Terrorist Attack Against The Russian Embassy. oneworld.press Based on the statement of the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Kabul should investigate all the circumstances of the terrorist attack as soon as possible and identify the persons involved in its implementation.

Franklin Frederick (2021-02-02). Switzerland's Dangerous Turn to the Far Right. globalresearch.ca All Global Research articles can be read in 27 languages by activating the "Translate Website" drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version). | *** | On 25 September 2020, the Swiss Parliament passed a revision of …

oneworld.press (2021-02-02). Kabul Must Identify The Perpetrators Of The Terrorist Attack Against The Russian Embassy. oneworld.press Based on the statement of the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Kabul should investigate all the circumstances of the terrorist attack as soon as possible and identify the persons involved in its implementation.

Staff (2021-02-01). Headlines for February 1, 2021. democracynow.org CDC Orders Mask-Wearing on Public Transportation as Experts Urge Speedy Vaccination to Combat Variants, Johnson & Johnson Says One-Shot Vaccine Is Effective, Especially in Preventing Severe Cases, Major Racial Disparities Emerge in Vaccine Recipients as Latinx Deaths in L.A. Jump by 1,000%, Biden Meets with GOP Leaders to Discuss Stripped-Down Counter Bill to $1.9 Trillion Package, Burmese Military Stage Coup, Detain Aung San Suu Kyi, Police Arrest Over 5,100 in Pro-Navalny Protests Across Russia, Car Bomb Blasts Kill at Least 12 in Aleppo, Syria, U.N. Calls for Repatriation of 27,000 Children Stranded in al-Hol…

RT (2021-02-01). Austria to ease Covid-19 lockdown by opening schools and shops, while tightening borders to hinder arrival of new variants. rt.com Schools and non-essential shops in Austria will reopen next week as the country loosens its lockdown, though border measures will be tightened to stop Covid-19 variants coming in, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has said. | From February 8, schoolkids will have to furnish negative coronavirus test results in order to attend their classes, while shoppers will have to wear the higher-grade FFP2 face masks, which are already mandatory on public transport and in essential shops. | Austria will also reopen museums, galleries, libraries and zoos, and will switch from its current 24-hour ban on movement to overnight curfew…

RT (2021-02-01). Austria to ease Covid-19 lockdown by opening schools and shops, while tightening borders to hinder arrival of new variants. rt.com Schools and non-essential shops in Austria will reopen next week as the country loosens its lockdown, though border measures will be tightened to stop Covid-19 variants coming in, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has said. | From February 8, schoolkids will have to furnish negative coronavirus test results in order to attend their classes, while shoppers will have to wear the higher-grade FFP2 face masks, which are already mandatory on public transport and in essential shops. | Austria will also reopen museums, galleries, libraries and zoos, and will switch from its current 24-hour ban on movement to overnight curfew…

RT (2021-02-01). Portugal to receive planeload of German doctors, hospital beds & ventilators to counter dire Covid-19 surge. rt.com Germany will send 26 doctors, nurses and hygiene experts to Portugal on Wednesday to help prop up the nation's Covid-19 efforts as it battles one of the world's worst outbreaks, the German defense minister said on Monday. | "We support our friends in Portugal who find themselves in an especially dramatic situation," Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said. | The German military medical team will stay in Portugal for three weeks. Berlin is also sending 150 infusion machines and 50 ventilators, which are also set to arrive in Lisbon by plane on Wednesday. | Newspaper reports last week said the German armed forc…

RT (2021-02-01). As EU falls behind on supplies of Covid-19 vaccines, German health minister entertains possibility of using Russia's Sputnik V. rt.com German Health Minister Jens Spahn has revealed that Berlin would be open to importing Covid-19 vaccines from Russia and China as the government looks to find ways to overcome the country's shortage of doses. | "Regardless of the country in which a vaccine is manufactured, if they are safe and effective, they can help cope with the pandemic," Spahn told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. | The German minister's comments came before Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's permanent representative to the EU, revealed that Moscow is not only open to selling its Sputnik V vaccine but will also share information about how…

RT (2021-02-01). 7 die at Spanish care home after getting Pfizer Covid-19 jab as ALL residents test positive for virus, second doses still to come. rt.com All 78 residents at a nursing home in central Spain have tested positive for Covid-19 after being given their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and at least seven people have died, staff confirmed on Monday. | Most of those who succumbed to the virus had existing conditions, according to Spanish news agency The huge outbreak is at the Lagartera Residence for the El…

RT (2021-02-01). Madrid to relax restaurant Covid-19 rules to help businesses and push back against 'political pressure' despite high infections. rt.com The region of Madrid will relax some of its Covid-19 restrictions this week, the region's president announced on Monday, even though infection rates in the capital remain high and most of Spain is tightening health measures. | From Friday, the number of diners allowed per table on outdoor restaurant terraces in Madrid will be upped from four to six and the 10pm curfew on business activity will be pushed back to midnight "as soon as possible," Isabel Diaz Ayuso said. | Ayuso also announced that the use of face masks inside hospitality establishments will be made mandatory. | Those in the Spanish capital are alr…

RT (2021-02-01). 7 die at Spanish care home after getting Pfizer Covid-19 jab as ALL residents test positive for virus, second doses still to come. rt.com All 78 residents at a nursing home in central Spain have tested positive for Covid-19 after being given their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and at least seven people have died, staff confirmed on Monday. | Most of those who succumbed to the virus had existing conditions, according to Spanish news agency EFE, while four residents are currently hospitalized, and 12 staff have also been infected. | The huge outbreak is at the Lagartera Residence for the Elderly in the Toledo area, southwest of the capital Madrid. | The home's 33 staff must now present a negative PCR test before they start work, and a…

teleSUR (2021-02-01). Guaido Prevents the Use of Frozen Funds for Vaccines. anti-empire.com Jan 21 (teleSUR) — The former lawmaker rejected a proposal of the legitimate government to allocate gold blocked in the United Kingdom to anti-COVID-19 vaccines. | Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza denounced Wednesday that former opposition deputy Juan Guaidó rejected a proposal by the legitimate government of the South American nation to allocate 120 million dollars, illegally withheld in the United Kingdom, to the purchase of anti-Covid-19 vaccines. | In a message disseminated through the social network Twitter, Arreaza detailed that this maneuver constitutes "another proof of the cruelty of Guaid…

Paul Jay (2021-02-01). Putin and Navalny Both Represent Big Russian Capital — Alexander Buzgalin. theanalysis.news The recent protests in Russia were more about the failed economic policies of Putin than support for Navalny, whose program may be even worse than Putin's. The West loves Navalny because they think he will open Russia to U.S. finance capital. From Moscow, Prof. Alexander Buzgalin joins theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay.

Scott Newman (2021-02-01). Putin and Navalny Both Represent Big Russian Capital — Alexander Buzgalin. theanalysis.news The recent protests in Russia were more about the failed economic policies of Putin than support for Navalny, whose program may be even worse than Putin's. The West loves Navalny because they think he will open Russia to U.S. finance capital. From Moscow, Prof. Alexander Buzgalin joins theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay.

WSWS (2021-02-01). Commerzbank cuts 10,000 jobs in Germany, with union support. wsws.org The trade union Verdi supports the jobs massacre at Commerzbank, which will destroy 10,000 posts and close half its branches.

WSWS (2021-02-01). Strikes mount in Turkey against austerity and herd immunity policies. wsws.org The Turkish government's murderous response to the pandemic and the collapse of social conditions for millions are increasingly driving workers into struggle.

RT (2021-02-01). Former head of Twitter Europe warns anonymity ban won't stop racism on social media. rt.com Twitter's former Europe boss, Bruce Daisley, has warned social media sites that simply removing the anonymity of users will not solve the problem of racism on their platforms, calling on companies to do more to address the issue. | Speaking to the BBC on Monday, Daisley addressed some of the proposals that have been presented to tackle the growing issue of racism and other abusive behavior on social media, with culprits often accused of hiding behind fake or anonymous profiles. | Calling on social media firms, including Twitter, to do more to address toxic content on their platforms, Daisley warned that a "sim…

RT (2021-02-01). Germany rejects France's call to halt construction on Nord Stream 2 pipeline over Navalny detention. rt.com Germany said it plans to complete the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 offshore gas pipeline project despite opposition from France over Moscow's jailing of opposition figure Alexey Navalny. | The stance of the German government "has not changed" in recent days, deputy government spokeswoman Martina Fietz said on Monday in Berlin, after France's secretary of state for Europe Clément Beaune asked Germany to halt the project. | A spokesman for Germany's Federal Foreign Office in Berlin told Die Welt that although the project is going ahead, the German government was aware of the French position and having a "ver…

Jeff Amy (2021-02-01). Liquid nitrogen leak at Georgia poultry plant kills 6. peoplesworld.org GAINESVILLE, Ga, (AP) — A liquid nitrogen leak at a northeast Georgia poultry plant killed six people Thursday and sent 11 others to the hospital, officials said. At least three of those injured at the Foundation Food Group plant in Gainesville were reported in critical condition. Poultry plants rely on refrigeration systems that can include …

MEE staff (2021-02-01). Kosovo formally establishes ties with Israel, to open embassy in Jerusalem. middleeasteye.net Kosovo formally establishes ties with Israel, to open embassy in Jerusalem | In exchange for setting up mission in Jerusalem, Kosovo gets recognition from Israel, as it seeks to further legitimise independence from Serbia | Mon, 02/01/2021 – 21: 18 | In a ceremony held over Zoom, Israel's foreign minister and his Kosovar counterpart signed a joint declaration establishing ties (AFP) | Kosovo and Israel establi…